Middle-aged drama watche

I enjoyed this drama overall. I have not seen a modern cdrama that has such a large amount of collateral damage. (I’ve seen plenty of costume ones that have so many dead bodies, but no modern ones). That alone made this a novel watching experience. At its heart, this is a psychological study of the female lead and the killer.

I liked Sun Yian. Sure, she was a noble idiot for breaking up with Jiang Cheng Yi not once but twice. However because this is a psychological study of how she handles the death of those around her, I minded this less than I normally did. The relationship between the leads was good. In both flashbacks and the present, we saw all the ways in which their relationship worked. And it was obvious that the only real impediment was Sun Yian’s guilt over her friends’ death. She is subdued as a lead, but this is supposed to be a consequence of the depression she feels because of her guilt. The winter setting really adds to the somber vibes in my opinion.

Jiang Cheng Yi is a likable hero. Johnny Huang has plenty of charisma and plays the lovable dork well. It works here too. I did get the sense that he didn’t figure out the mystery of who the bad guy was until late mostly because the plot needed him to do so. It does make the entire police department seem like they can’t do their job. However, I really like that he believed Sun Yian and he didn’t hold a grudge for long. Many times a past relationship between the leads keeps them apart arbitrarily when they “can’t get over the past…” except they show them not caring about the past unless it’s convenient for the plot. I didn’t get that sense here. Also, some viewers had an issue with the fact that when she breaks up with him, he gets an apartment next to her and keeps an eye on her that way. I did not have a problem with this. He isn’t trying to force her to take him back. He’s generally worried about her because someone is stalking her and he wants to make sure she is safe. Plus he is a police officer and actually has the resources to keep her safe.

The friends were also good. They were likable and sympathetic to both leads. They struck me as college friends who could see both sides and because of that, they felt like genuine friends as opposed to simply comic relief or a fount of bad advice for our main couple. Their story tied in with the main one and worked for the flow of the drama.

Wan Peng is honestly one of my biggest problems and still a good part of this drama. Watching him slowly devolve and become unhinged where he had held things together well before was definitely compelling. I thought they gave him a good back story and a reason to be obsessed with Sun Yian. It’s true that little encounters we view as insignificant can be life changing to others. That being said, one of my biggest problems with Cdramas is the idea that the 2ML or 2FL has that our main lead “must” love them. And so in that sense, his obsession with Sun Yian seemed more along those lines and very much something we have seen before. Until the end when it became over the top. The transition from menacing background figure to full blown villain was clunky for me. And the reveal about his parentage came completely out of left field for me.

I enjoyed this best when I focused on the relationship between the leads and their family and friends. The police stuff felt a little flat to me. That being said, their relationship was compelling enough to me that I minded the flaws less than I sometimes do. Also, this gets bonus points for being different in a sea of same-y type modern dramas. I had no trouble finishing it and enjoyed it very much. I don’t see myself rewatching though.